Between Home and Final Destination
by K. A. Raith
Summary: #1 of And Miles to Go 'verse - In the aftermath of the disastrous mission to Soul Society, a mysterious stranger appears on a certain shopkeeper's doorstep to offer assistance. [Dimension travel. Warnings inside. In progress.]


_**Disclaimer:** __I don't own Bleach; Kubo Tite does. I do, however, own the idea and plot behind this story._

_**Setting:**__ Massive AU post-Soul Society arc._

_**Warning:**__ Blanket spoiler up to the current manga arc, possible IchiRuki & IshiHime, possible other m/f, f/f, m/m pairings or ship-teases, English isn't author's first language, un-beta'ed. Don't read further if you're uncomfortable with the aforementioned stuffs._

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**Between Home and Final Destination**

**Prologue - The Shopkeeper and the Wandering Spirit**

Urahara Kisuke didn't like surprises.

Actually, that wasn't quite the truth. Kisuke liked surprises – only when he was the one who planned or sprung said surprises. Surprises from unknown parties, on the other hand, were a legitimate cause for worry, especially if they happened in the aftermath of the absolute train wreck that was Kuchiki Rukia's rescue.

He forcefully held back a reflexive wince as his sleep-deprived mind saw it fit to remind him once again of his latest failures.

Even before Yoruichi-_san_ gave him the blow-by-blow account, he had already known what a huge miscalculation the whole rescue mission had been. The visual evident alone had been damning enough.

Out of five people that had come to Soul Society, only three had come back.

Not even Yoruichi-_san_'s sympathetic expression and the human teens' unjudging gazes – and their involvement was just another prove that in the end his moral wasn't much better than Aizen's – could alleviate the dread that had welled up in the pit of his stomach. The sick feeling had worsened even more after he found out about Gotei 13's state in the aftermath of the betrayal.

From the sound of it, Aizen hadn't been toying around at all.

Yet, Yoruichi-_san_ and the teenagers still hadn't outright blamed him. Logically, he knew he should've felt relieved at this, but feelings were odd and fickle things. Their apparent understanding had only fed to his guilt even more, so much that he had been almost morbidly thankful when certain parents had lit up into him instead of calmly accepting the news – although he really could've done without the pointy implements–

His hand itched to rub a particular spot on his throat; he clamped down that urge, too. It wouldn't do to appear other than entirely composed when he was facing the latest surprise in his life.

"You look tense, Urahara-_san_," said surprise took that moment to speak up.

Kisuke twitched. Somewhere across the table, very close to the surface of the _tatami_-covered floor, a strange huffing noise could be heard. It would've been an amused snort, had it come out of human's mouth. Kisuke tried not to lower his gaze and make eye contact, or even show that he had heard the noise at all; he didn't want to get distracted by those _huge_, _sharp _teeth.

His surprise, on the other hand, had no such qualm. One of slender but strong hands – and Kisuke had _seen_ firsthand how strong they were – disappeared from the top of the table, and a moment later, a long, deep, _totally not-human_ rumble reverberated in the small living room.

In a cat, it would've been a purr.

Kisuke realized he was _almost _staring. He quickly dragged his gaze upward, only to meet a pair of knowing eyes.

"His name is Kotsuki; Tsuki for short."

Kisuke twitched again. Put into the corner like that, he had no choice but to acknowledge the one thing he'd been trying ignore. He reluctantly lowered his gaze to meet sharp, feral eyes of an elegant, _giant _predator.

... Well, calling it – _him? _– 'giant' might be a bit exaggerating, but really – those _teeth _were _huge_.

"And I'm Rei."

Kisuke's gaze quickly snapped back upward. "Rei," he echoed, finally having a name to go with the face.

"Rei," the now-identified Rei-_san_ replied in confirmation.

"Just 'Rei'?"

Rei-_san_ seemed to think for a few moments, before coming to a decision. "Yeah – just 'Rei'."

Kisuke _stared_.

Rei-_san_ gave a sigh at his look. "Hitsurugi."

"... Pardon?"

"It's 'Hitsurugi', if you really must insist to have a last name. Still... just call me 'Rei', though."

Kisuke narrowed his eyes. The way Rei-_san_ had said the name just now–

"That's not even your real name, isn't it?"

Rei-_san_'s eyes took on a vaguely mischievous gleam. "What do you think?"

Kisuke sighed. So the option to dig into this person's background through that name was apparently out.

He'd just have to keep his eyes open for other options, then.

"So, Rei-_san_... it's not that I'm not pleased to receive such outstanding guests in my humble abode–"

Two snorts, one human and one not, interrupted him.

Kisuke ignored them and went on, "–but I'm afraid you've come in an unfortunate time–"

"Can it with the polite speech, Urahara-_san_," Rei-_san_ cut him off. Sharp eyes regarded him. "You want to know our purpose for coming here."

Kisuke straightened. "If you'd be so kind as to tell me – yes."

Rei-_san_ gave an eye-roll for his insistence on using the so-called 'polite speech'. Kisuke paid it no mind. Such way of speaking was a very ingrained habit of his; it, for one thing, allowed him to put some measures of distance from his conversation partners and thus keep objective view.

"Rumors had it that one particular pair is missing, and a certain _shinigami _traitor is at fault," Rei-_san_ said slowly. "I came here to check if the story were true."

"Not to sound rude, Rei-_san_ – but _how_ is any of this your business?"

Rei-_san_ took quite a long time to answer, during which Kisuke had subtly tightened his grip on his _shikomizue_ and prepared himself to give a preemptive strike, just in case. He'd _seen_ how fast those hands could draw, after all. Of course, he'd also need to watch out for _those _teeth and claws–

Tsuki-_san_ took that moment to lift his massive head and give him a measured stare, as if he knew what's going on in Kisuke's mind.

"Let's just say that I made some promises to some people a long time ago," Rei-_san_ finally spoke up, "and this particular situation fits within the scope of those promises."

"'Some people'," Kisuke echoed slowly.

Rei-_san_ nodded. "Some people... who worried about future generations."

"And would I be correct if I assume that these... people are currently no longer in this world?"

He received another nod.

"How convenient," Kisuke commented drily.

Rei-_san_ blinked innocently at him.

Kisuke sighed and decided to let the topic go for now. "So, according to your story, you're here because apparently you feel obligated due to some promises–"

"–and because I want a crack at Aizen, too."

Kisuke paused, and stared.

Rei-_san_ shrugged. "His face pisses me off."

"You want a 'crack' at Aizen... because his face 'pisses you off'," Kisuke echoed carefully.

Rei-_san_'s smile looked cheerful at first glance, but there was something _dark _lurking behind it that instantly put Kisuke on guard. "I can't help it that his face _somehow _reminds me of the face of the man who had fucked my family up. They _look _very similar, you see."

"... Ah," Kisuke managed, unsure how to reply to that statement. A rumble resounded again in the room, this time carrying a distinctly comforting tone. He watched as Rei-_san_'s smile slowly relaxed into a more genuine one.

A stray thought then made itself known. "I'm curious, Rei-_san_ – do you know about the true ability of Aizen's _zanpakutō_?"

He received a nod. "It's called _Kanzen Saimin_ – total hypnosis, which is a bit misleading. It actually creates almost unbreakable illusions that fool all five senses. I'm immune, by the way."

Kisuke could almost feel his brain screeching to a halt at that proclamation. "... Pardon?"

"I'm immune to that ability."

"You mean you haven't seen the release."

"No, I mean I'm totally immune, as in 'I won't be affected even if Aizen gets up close and tries till he's blue in the face'."

Kisuke opened his mouth and tried to say something, but no sound could come out. After several more false starts, however, he could finally manage to blurt out, "_Who_ are you, Rei-_san_?"

Another innocent blink was sent his way. "Why, Urahara-_san_. I'm _just_ a wandering spirit – _nothing_ special."

Kisuke narrowed his eyes from under the brim of his hat. The way Rei-_san_ spoke just now – it was familiar to him somehow. The sing-song, almost playful tone reminded Kisuke of–

_"_–_just a humble, perverted shopkeeper–"_

–_of himself._

... He suddenly had the urge to give into hysterical laughs. He managed not to, barely.

"So, back to our first topic – now you know the reason why I'm here," Rei-_san_ was saying.

"Quite," Kisuke confirmed. There were so many things still unexplained about the self-proclaimed wanderer, but Rei-_san_ had seemed honest enough about the true reason of the visit, and the anger – _disgust? hatred?_ – the wanderer had shown when Aizen was mentioned had looked – and _felt_ – real.

He'd just have to wait and see how it would unfold – and hope that it wouldn't choose an unfortunate time to backfire at him.

"What will you do now that you've found out the truth?"

"What will I do?" Rei-_san_ leaned forward, eyes intent and lips curving in a faint smirk. Beside the wanderer, Tsuki-_san_ stretched languidly before seemingly perking up.

The next several words were spoken with the same sing-song tone Kisuke had heard earlier.

"Why, I'll help you save Kurosaki-_kun_ and Ishida-_kun_ from Aizen, of course."

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_**Author's Note:**_

___Rei is NOT an OC. '陽剣 光' __is one of many ways 'Hitsurugi Rei' can be written. That alone should give you enough clues to guess which canon character 'Rei' is. In fact, it should still be pretty easy to guess even without the name, since I suck at writing mystery._

_So, a new story instead of update for **Butterflies, Hurricanes**.The theme this time is 'dimensional travel'. This story is actually my first Bleach fanfic, but **Broken Reflection** was posted first._

_So, what do you think?  
_

_**~Keylan Raith**_


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